Visitor Question

What is a Fair Personal Injury Settlement Amount?

Submitted By: Debbie (Wilmington, North Carolina)

We were rear-ended at a stoplight. The doctor said I got basic whiplash. Have still have pain in my neck and headaches. I also have elevated blood pressure since the accident. There was not much damage to the car. The adjuster wants to settle the personal injury for us for $500.00 each.

What is a fair personal injury settlement amount?

Disclaimer: Our response is not formal legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is generic legal information based on the very limited information provided. Do not rely upon the information in our response, or anywhere else on this site, when deciding the proper course of a legal matter. Always get a personalized case review from a local attorney.

Answer

Dear Debbie,

Personal Injury settlement amounts are a direct correlation to the amount of the medical bills a person sustains. If you don’t have any medical bills, the insurance company doesn’t really have to pay much more than the property damage to your car.

Unless your doctor is ready to create a medical narrative conforming you suffered from whiplash and will require considerable therapy, you may not get past the $500.00 dollars. If your doctor will confirm your whiplash, you should consider retaining a personal injury attorney.

We certainly don’t want to say you are lucky to have been offered $500.00 dollars, but in the absence of verifiable medical bills you might not have been offered anything at all. Often, when there are vehicular collisions with no personal injuries, insurance companies make nominal offers to the victims.

If you had to take time off from work to deliver and pickup your car from the body shop that might be a cost the insurance company would pay. But unless your lost wages amounted to over $500.00 dollars, there isn’t much more you could expect. You can always go back and tell them you deserve more than $500.00 dollars, but you really dont have much leverage.

Go back one more time and tell the Claims Adjuster your blood pressure has been elevated since the collision. Tell her you would feel much more comfortable with a settlement of $1,000.00 dollars.

She may counter-offer at $750.00, but if she does, that will probably be as high as she will go.

Learn more here: Whiplash Injury Compensation

The above is general information. Laws change frequently, and across jurisdictions. You should get a personalized case evaluation from a licensed attorney.

Find a local attorney to give you a free case review here, or call 888-972-0892.

We wish you the best with your claim,

Published:

One comment on “What is a Fair Personal Injury Settlement Amount?

  1. tim says:

    I had same thing and when it was all done in 2 weeks i received check for $12,500. You should get a personal injury attorney.

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